Lettering guide



Patented May 26,- 1936 UNHTED STATES ?ATENT QFFEQE LETTERING GUIDE Albert Fabin Cousins, Hibbing, Minn.

Application July 30, 1932, Serial No. 626,825

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improved stencil or guide for facilitating the making of letters, numerals or characters of various descriptions and the primary object of the invention is to provide a lettering guide or stencil whereby letters and the like may be quickly and neatly produced upon drawings or the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lettering stencil having a construction permitting rows of lettering to be made one beneath the other without being required to wait until the ink or other marking fluid of the printed row has dried. 4

A further object of the invention is to provide a lettering stencil having a novel arrangement of openings for formation of the letters whereby a minimum amount of shifting of the stencil will be required for the formation of certain letters and thus resulting in a material saving in time.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which is of extremely simple and durable construction and a lettering stencil primarily designed for use in making roman letters and numerals.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and in which drawing:-

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the lettering stencil for making roman capital letters.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan View of the right hand end of the stencil shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the stencil having openings for the formation of small or lower case letters.

Figure 4 is a stencil for making numerals and various other characters.

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse section on the line 55 of Figure 1 and showing the stencil in position for use against a straight edge.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts thruout the several views, the lettering guides or stencils have been designated A, B and C, the guide A being designed for use in drawing modern roman capital letters, the guide B designed foruse in drawing modern roman small 50 or lower-case letters, and the guide C designed for use in making numerals, characters, etc. The letter D may designate a T square or other form of straight edge with which the guides may be used. It is to be understood, however, that the 55 openings in the guides may be designed for drawing other types and sizes of lettering acters than that illustrated.

With the exception of the different shapes of the openings in the set of guides A, B and C, and possibly in the length thereof, the guides are of like general construction and are preferably made of a transparent material such as celluloid (Pyralin) or the like.

Referring particularly to the lettering guide or stencil A, the same is made of a strip of transparent material formed with a rabbet or recess 6 along its top edge and its under side to provide a thick'base portion 1 and a thin flat plate portion or template 8 along the upper edge of the base portion having its under surface 9 spaced above and parallel to the flat under surface ID of the portion T. With this construction, it will be seen in Figure 5 that when the stencil is placed upon a drawing surface such as indicated at i2, with the straight edge M of the base portion 1 abutting the working edge of the T square D, the template 8 will be held spaced slightly from the surface l2. This spacing of the template 8 prevents smearing of the ink when drawing. The upper surfaces of the portions 1 and 8 are preferably flush to provide a flat upper surface for the guides to be engaged by ones fingers when using the guides.

The plate portion or template 8 is provided substantially throughout its entire length with a series of openings generally designated as I5, and these openings are of various shapes for the drawing or formation of the letters of the alphabet in modern roman capital letters. These openings provide guiding edges for the nib of a lettering pen and the narrow portions of the letter forming openings are of just sufficient thickness to permit insertion of the nib of the lettering pen therethru. After the lettering is completed, the wide portions of the letters may be filled in between the lines formed by the lettering pen when guided along the edges of the wide portions of the openings. The openings are arranged so that the base of the letters will be on a line parallel to the straight edge l4.

The arrangement of openings I5 is such as to permit drawing of the letters with a minimum amount of shifting, and wherever possible, the openings are such as to' permit complete letters to be drawn without requiring shifting of the guides. In some instances two or more complementary openings are required for formation of a letter and with these letters, the complementary openings for formation of the letters are so related as torequire but little shifting of the guides to complete the letter. As will be observed and charcross sectional shape of the guide.

in Figure 1, the letters C, G, I, J, L, M, N, S, T, U, V, W, Y and Z may be completed without requiring any shifting of the guide, whereas the remaining letters of the alphabet may be formed by certain complementary openings forming portions of the letters. The letter A may be completed by using the complementary openings a, b; the letters B, D, E and F completed by the opening 0 with the proper one of the openings (1, e or f; the letters P and R by using the openings g, h and the letter H by using the opening 7' with the openings 70 and l; the letter K by using the openings 1 and m; the letter O by the openings '11, and p; the letter Q by the openings n, p and r; and the letter X by using the openings 8 and 1.. Thus it will be seen that the openings for formation of certain of the letters, which, because of their particular shape cannot be formed by a single opening, are closely grouped together so that very little shifting of the guide is required for formation of these letters. Arranged above the openings l5 and delineated in any preferred manner'upon the template are guide letters 18 for indicating which openings should be used for formation of that particular letter.

Embedded in the base portion 1 at spaced points therealong are suitable weights 20 which make the base portion sufiiciently heavy to cause the guide to lie fiat upon the surface ill so that the template is held spaced above the writing surface l2. These weights 2!] may be of any suitable shape and formation and in the example shown are in the form of lead plugs cemented or otherwise secured in the base portion flush with the external surfaces thereof. With this arrangement, the template is held raisedwithout requiring that the operator always retain a finger pressure upon the base portion to prevent possible smearing of the lettering. By so weighting *the base portion by the weights 20 allows for the base portion to be formed relatively narrow and yet support the template spaced above the writing surface.

In use, the guide is placed with the straight I ed'ge l4 against the working edge of the T square D, and the lettering done'by sliding the guide along the T square. The template 8 will be supported above the lettering and prevents smearing thereof. After one line of lettering has been completed, the second line of lettering may be placed closely below the first line of lettering without waiting for the upper line of lettering to dry and this is made possible by the particular As will be noted in Figure 5, the top edge of the guide, or that edge remote from the base portion 1 does not contact With the surface 12. With this construction any number of rows of lettering may be drawn one below the other without first waiting for the rows of lettering to dry.

The guide B shown in Figure 3 includes the base portion 25 andplate portion or template 26 having the row of openings 21 for the formation of modern roman small or lower-case letters. As will be noted the openings 21 are so related as to permit formation of the letters with a minimum amount of shifting of the guide. The base portion 25 is provided with the weights 28 and guide letters 29 are placed along the upper edge of the template 26 above the openings 21.

The guide C shown in Figure 4 is designed for drawing numerals, characters, etc., and is provided with the base portion 30 and the plate portion or template 3| having the numeral and character forming openings 32 with the complementary openings for forming certain numerals and characters so related as to require but a minimum amount of shifting of the guide for producingthe numerals or characters. The base portion 30 is provided with the weights 33 and suitable guide characters 34 are provided above the openings 32 to indicate proper use thereof.

Thus it will be seen that a novel and improved form of lettering guide or stencil has been provided which will permit drawing letters, numerals, characters, etc-., with a minimum amount of shifting of the guides and thus resulting in a material saving in time. It will further be apparent that a novel arrangement is disclosed whereby any number of rows of 7 letters may be made one below the other without first allowing the ink to dry upon the above row of lettering. It will also be apparent that an improved lettering guide or stencil has been provided for use in making modern roman letters and numerals without requiring a great amount of shifting of the guides for making the letters and numerals.

Changes in detail may be made to the form of invention herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A drawing guide comprising a strip rabbeted along the edge formed by its bottom and one side and forming a thick'narrow base portionand a thin wide plate portion having its upper surface flush with the upper surface of the base portion, said plate portion having a row of letter or character forming openings therethrough, and weighting means embedded in the base portion for over-balancing the plate portion and retaining the same spaced above a supporfiting surface upon which the base portion res s.

2. A lettering guide comprising a strip of transparent material having a recess formed along its bottom and opening along one side of the strip to provide a narrow base portion and a wider plate'portion,-said plate portion having a'plurality of letter forming openings therethrough, and weights embedded flush in the base portion for overbalancing the plate portion and retaining the same spaced above a supporting surface upon which the base portion rests.

ALBERT FABIN coUsINs. 

